$760 Circuit Board or new system ?

Hello,
Just returned from military deployment and my welcome back gift from
the wife was "the AC and Heater need to be fixed".
I have a York furnace and AC, it is 13 years old (contractor grade).
I had two companies come out. They both agreed that the AC should be
replaced but they differed on the furnace.
Company A said replace the bad circuit board ($760) and you should be
good for another 7 years. Company B recommended replacing the furnace
because it will "nickel and dime" us, a new one is much more efficient
and that we would save some in labor having it all done at once.
Any opinions would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Jim

Your welcome-to-this-newsgroup gift will be - basically nothing useful
(if you're lucky) and more likely some verbal abuse if you ask too
many questions.

The blue-collar hvac dweebs who will even bother to answer will
basically agree that you need to empty your wallet on a new furnace,
preferrably one with a board that will cost $1500 to replace when it
goes bad in the future.

The AC can wait until spring (you're not saying what part of the AC is
the problem).
As for the circuit board, $760 is a ripoff considering that a Pentium
Core-2 Intel motherboard with CPU will cost about half that. The
board probably costs $100 and they're charging $660 to install it.

Obviously;
HVAC Guy isn't HVAC. The cost of the board, carry it around on the truck
until someone needs it investment [I could have put the money in the bank
instead and earned currently 5.25% and not done anything] plus the cost of
shipping the board to me, plus the "cost of business" i.e. overhead. Then
comes the labor cost dweeb.
BTW: some of the older boards [albeit 20 years ago] do cost around $100
wholesale, but anything under 10 years cost quite a bit more. Remember,
these are propietary boards designed only to fit this application on this
appliance. Computer boards tend to be more generic and are sold under
various names. Some motherboards handle a multitude of cpu's, not just one
type.
Don't be a dweeb and spout off about stuff you don't know shit about.

A 13 year-old furnace on it's "last leg" ???
Are you kidding?
Is the lifetime of furnaces declining since the 1970's?
I guess I'll keep my perfectly-good-and-working furnace (circa 1976) a
little longer then.
And what does a standing pilot have to do with it? Could it be that
you, like all those employed in the hvac field, strongly desire all
home owners to move to more-expensive-to-repair furnaces that will
garantee you a more steady service income?
From a home-owner POV, a standing pilot light is far more reliable and
has a lower total ownership cost vs electronic ignition.

For what it's worth, no ass-wipe tech has ever been called to look at
my 1976 furnace in the 8 years I've owned it (nor my AC unit, which is
probably circa 1986).
I know you don't want to hear shit like that, because it just means
less $$$ for you.
Now go back and twidle your thumbs waiting for your next service call.

Hi,
Knocking on the wood? Your furnace may fail on the coldest day of this
winter and your a/c on the hottest day of the summer next year.
Keep your fingers crossed, LOL! Ever heard of preventive maintenance?
Ounce of prevention or pound of remedy? Common sense rules!

Hi,
One thing, standing pilot burns gas all the time. No matter how small
amount it may be. Ever thought about conservation/environment? I guess
you are still driving '70's gas guzzling/polluting carburated automobile
too then?

Not if you turn off the gas to the furnace during the 7 or 8 months of
the year you don't (won't) call for heat.

Like I said, turning it off for the spring, summer and fall is no big
deal. Is that conservation enough for ya?
As for the winter, the heat coming off the pilot is still radiating
into my house (even it's just adding a little more heat to the
exchanger) - so it's not really lost at all.
It's a similar issue for the (now) hated incandescent light bulb.
During the winter (when there is less natural light) the heat coming
from an incandescent bulb is not really lost - it's actually
supplementing the heat you need from your furnace.

Yes, it's true that it's adding heat that I don't want. But also
remember that the days are longer in the summer (at least where I
live) so I have a reduced need to turn on lights in the summer vs the
winter.

The pilot doesn't put out enough heat to prevent that.
If the AC is doing it's job, it keeps the humidity down and should
keep moisture buildup to a minimum.
The proper way to do it is to shunt the air around the heat exchanger
in the summer and shunt it around the evap coil in the winter. That
would improve air flow as well, probably reduce noise too.

hehehe. You dumbass Stormy. Who told you that? Your local gas company?
What keeps the moisture out of the new furnaces with no pilot? What
keeps them from rusting out?
You are about the dumbest bonehead Ive ever heard from.
Go borrow a rock.
Bubba

Dear "NOT HVAC Guy"
You are clueless as usual. Your 30 yr old furnace may be working but
that's all its doing.
"What does a standing pilot have to do with it?" (you ask)
Nothing other than the fact that you are most likely burning an extra
$20 a month each and every month which amounts to $240 a year you just
pissed away. (and yes, most people dont turn their pilot off in the
summer)
"More expensive to repair?" (you say)
Thats funny. My customers that purchase a furnace from me enjoy a
properly sized furnace that burns at 95% efficient and about half of
them opt for the 2 stage and/or variable speed model. Those customers
also enjoy a 10 yr "no charge" service calls should anything happen to
break down. I only recommend that they purchase a service agreement
for regular maintenance as does the manufacturer although I DONT
require it to honor their warranty.
I'll match 10 yrs of purchase, fuel cost and repairs against your 30
yr old furnace any day.
Bubba
"You need to be teachded or learnt this trade before you speweth your
mouth"

Log in

HomeOwnersHub.com is a website for homeowners and building and maintenance pros. It is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.